We are Elrha, a force for change in the humanitarian community. The research and innovation we support equips the humanitarian community with the knowledge of what works, so people affected by crises get the right help when they need it most.

Our purpose is clear: to empower the humanitarian community to improve humanitarian response. We make this happen by supporting and championing the outcomes of robust research and proven innovations.

We empower the humanitarian community. Find out how we can support you...

4 Results for Health Topics

4.2 Water, sanitation and hygiene

4.2.1 Water, sanitation and hygiene

Of the returned 3963 articles related to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), the vast majority (N=3957) either did not occur in humanitarian crises or did not measure the impact of WASH interventions on health outcomes. Although water quality/purity (e.g. faecal coliform or residual chlorine levels) outcomes have been commonly used as a proxy for health outcomes (e.g. diarrhoea) in humanitarian settings, this review exclusively focused on studies that directly measured the effectiveness of WASH interventions on health outcomes.

Only 7 peer reviewed papers met the inclusion criteria. Of these, 6 were category A and B papers and these are the focus of the review [1-6].

Five of the 6 category A and B papers conducted a test of statistical significance between WASH interventions and health outcomes (category A). One reported WASH interventions and health outcomes but without a test of significance (category B).

Three of the 5 category A papers were deemed high quality and 2 were deemed moderate quality. The category B paper was deemed low quality.

There has been increasing interest in WASH interventions in humanitarian crises over the past two decades, with all six papers published since 2000, but quality remains mixed over time.

Uncontrolled longitudinal designs were most common (3/6), followed by randomised controlled trials (RCTs) (2/6), and non-random trial (1/6) designs.

Five of the six studies occurred in armed conflicts and one in natural disasters. Of the conflict studies, 3 were with IDPs and 2 with refugees. The natural disaster study was with the general population.

Most of the studies occurred in the acute crisis stage (4/6), followed by early recovery (2/6); one study was conducted during both the acute crisis and early recovery stages.

Five of the 6 studies were conducted in Africa and 1 occurred in Latin America.

All 6 WASH intervention studies assessed the impact on the health outcome of diarrhoeal diseases, with 5 evaluating effectiveness against general diarrhoea and one evaluating suspected – although not laboratory confirmed – Shigella.

One study measured WASH intervention success in relation to both health and water quality outcomes; 1 study recorded uptake (use of soap) as well as health outcomes.

The 6 WASH studies covered multiple types and combinations of interventions. All 6 studies focussed on point of use interventions, with the two most popular intervention types being safe water storage (N=4) and household water treatment (e.g. flocculant disinfectant). Other interventions included WASH education (N=2), hand washing (including soap distribution) (N=1), latrine provision (N=1), and point of source disinfection (N=1).

No study investigated the feasibility and cost effectiveness of WASH interventions in humanitarian crises.

Table 13 presents the details of the 6 category A and B papers, including a narrative analysis of the effectiveness of the interventions in the 6 studies (download the full report, page 96 to view table 13)

Get in touch

Follow us

You are seeing this because you are using a browser that is not supported. The Elrha website is built using modern technology and standards. We recommend upgrading your browser with one of the following to properly view our website:

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of browsers. We also do not intend to recommend a particular manufacturer's browser over another's; only to suggest upgrading to a browser version that is compliant with current standards to give you the best and most secure browsing experience.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.AcceptRejectCookie Policy